Ahead of Bengal polls, police seize cannabis and firearms from several places

Kolkata, March 24 (IANS) The police on Tuesday seized a massive quantity of cannabis from two districts in West Bengal, while firearms were recovered from another district.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) recovered approximately 13 kilograms of cannabis from Platform No. 2 of Kharagpur Station in the West Midnapore district. A resident of Bihar was apprehended on charges of trafficking drugs. The arrested individual has been identified as Ashish Kumar, aged 19.

According to railway officials, Ashish was transporting 12.95 kilograms of cannabis packed inside bags and suitcases.

Mitun Kumar Dey, the Superintendent of Railway Police of Kharagpur GRP, said that the accused was standing on Platform No. 2, waiting for a train at around 1:30 p.m. Upon interrogation, it was revealed that the young man had boarded the train in Odisha and was attempting to smuggle the cannabis to Tatanagar in Jharkhand.

Police confirmed that the arrested individual was produced before a court.

Meanwhile, in the Sagardighi area of ​​Murshidabad district, two traffickers were arrested by the police while attempting to smuggle cannabis using a postal department parcel van.

Late Monday night, police from the Sagardighi Police Station apprehended the duo during a routine checkpoint search on National Highway 12, near Moregram.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Gobinda Sarkar and Adhir Mandal. Gobinda is a resident of Chakulia in North Dinajpur district, while Adhir hails from Hili in South Dinajpur district. Approximately 67 kilograms of cannabis were recovered from their possession.

Interrogation of the suspects revealed that they had hatched a plan to procure the narcotics from Northeast India and smuggle them into Kolkata. To evade checkpoint searches, they had concealed the sacks of cannabis inside the cabin of a vehicle bearing official postal department stickers.

Furthermore, to avert police suspicion, they had affixed fake government seals and tags to the sacks. From the outside, there was no way to discern that the vehicle contained illicit narcotics rather than mail and correspondence.

Meanwhile, late on Monday night, police from the Sahebganj Police Station in Cooch Behar district arrested an individual in possession of a firearm.

According to the police, the man was apprehended in the Kharija Baniyadah area. The arrested individual has been identified as Ajay Debnath. Authorities are currently investigating the source of the firearm and the suspect's motive.

--IANS

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